Field Trip
by Yukiko168
Summary: Max and the flock are on a*nother* field trip. Very manga-ish themes, such as overnight stay in a hotel and hot springs... need I say more? MAJORLY FLUFFY and TOTALLY FAX. First fanfic, please read and review!
1. Back to School

**Field Trip, a Maximum Ride Fanfiction**

A/N: I started this fanfiction as a scrap of whatever, hoping to relieve some stress by randomly typing some stuff. However, I soon decided I liked this idea and started actually incorporating some interesting stuff in it.

It's fluffy, but bear with me. I needed some background to keep in the style of James Patterson and to make the story work.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story — James Patterson does — because if I did, Fang would be overwhelmed by fangirls (including _moi_) by now.

**Chapter One — **

"Are you completely _insane_?" I glared at Jeb, my voice raising an octave throughout the span of the sentence.

"Sweetie, I just thought it would be a good idea." He was looking at me hopefully, his voice soft and pleading. "You didn't get a good experience with school last time, so I thought you would want to try it out again."

"Max, I think it would be great if you went," Dr. Martinez — Mom — added quietly, "think about all the new things you could experience. Just for a few weeks. It's not like there's much else for you to do now, so I think it would be fun, if only for a little while."

"Pleeease?" Ella smiled at me winningly as she hopped from one foot to another. "We can all go to school together, and you would be with me! We would have so much fun! Oh, pretty please?"

It was too much. I mean, Jeb I could deal with. He was a lying fink and there was no way I would do anything if he asked me to, but Mom and Ella too? How could I refuse all three of them?

"Fine, but look, I'll be willing to try it, but I'd have to consult with the flock. If they disagree, then it's a no go, no matter what I think." Ha! Like the flock would _ever_ agree to an obviously insane idea like this. I was home free.

Jeb smiled brilliantly at me, "I knew you would consider it. Honey, I know you'll enjoy some time at school. Just don't worry about other things now — I want you to be able to experience some things like a normal person too." I turned away, knowing it would piss him off.

Yeah, like I was so totally normal.

But anyway. Since I'm a nice person, I decide to argue the case with the flock that night, even though — or maybe because — it was obvious that it wouldn't work out. Gathering everyone in my room, I explained the situation. "Okay, so Jeb had some sort of epiphany this morning," I began, as the flock filed dutifully into the room. "He says that the wants us to gain more "normal experiences" so that we are more ready for the "outside world". I had been planning to tell him in long and explicit terms what I thought about his ideas, except that he somehow got Mom and Ella on his side, so I had to agree to discuss it with you guys. What do you think — back to school, or should we up, up, and away again? Personally, I don't think it's a good idea, but that might just be me."

There was a short silence as the flock thought this through, but then the protests started. Iggy was the first to complain.

"No. It was a nightmare last time for me," he started, his arms crossed as he flopped down on my bed. "I do not want to go through that again. I mean, it was enough that everyone was avoiding me like I was some kind of mutant bird-freak — which I am of course, but they don't particularly know that — but there was absolutely no way for me to get around. I didn't know where anything was! It was… awful." Iggy paused, his voice quiet — it was always hard for him to talk about his blindness, even to us.

I looked away, a bit embarrassed at having forced him to say those things out loud. The Gasman quickly put an end to the awkward silence however, as he exploded with one of his more… violent episodes.

"Holy sh—" Iggy started, but stopped when I elbowed him in the ribs. "What was _that_? Did a nuclear plant just blow up, or what?"

Fang shook his head, chuckling quietly, as Nudge and Angel both held their noses and grinned at me. Total scooted under the bed with his paws over his nose, until only his tail was visible under my sheets. "Someone open a window," he mumbled, his voice muted from under the bed.

I rose with a sigh, opening the windows in my room as far as they would go. Note to self, re: tell Gazzy to work on controlling his intestines. I _know_ he can control his eruptions; why else would he just _happen_ to let 'er rip that one time we were in the kitchen fighting over the last slice of pie? Or the time he was about to lose at chess with Iggy? Or even the time I was trying to force him into giving up the bathroom? Coincidences can only go so far. I know he was probably trying to break the tension, but by golly, couldn't he at least work on controlling the toxicity of his outbursts?

We all waited as the air filtered around the room a while before continuing with our discussion. Total poked his nose out from under the bed, then, deeming it safe, he wriggled out and hopped onto the bed.

"I don't think it's a good idea either," he declared, as he clambered into Angel's lap. "It's so boring without you guys. I mean, what am I supposed to do while you guys are all away? Chase squirrels up trees?" He chuckled at his own joke as I rolled my eyes.

Angel looked up at me with her huge and innocent eyes. "I think it would be fun to go and play at school again," she announced, "even though there were all those really mean and stupid people trying to kill us. But this time we'll be safe, won't we? So we should go and play again. It was fun playing Swan Lake," she added, nodding seriously. "And I can probably actually turn into a swan now." She paused, and started sprouting small, white feathers around her face.

"Uh, sweetie, it might not be a good idea to turn into a swan in public," I said quickly, remembering the last time she used one of her special skills. _Nor is it a good idea to mess with the mind of the leader of the free world_, I thought, but I didn't say anything out loud.

Nudge grinned, fiddling with a piece of her hair. "I know I shouldn't want to, but I think it was fun at school, especially that field trip we had. I think we should go to school, even if it only means we get to go on more field trips. Do you think we might go to France or something? I really liked France, even though we didn't get to stay there for long. If we go there again, I want to go to the beach and, like, just stay there all day. Did you know that there's beaches in France where everyone just goes around _naked_? Isn't that disgusting? I want to see that sometime, not because everyone is naked of course, but to see if it's actually true. Do you think it could actually happen? I think…"

Nudge rambled on, delving deeper into the topic of nude beaches until both Gazzy and Iggy had joined in on the conversation. At that point in time, I decided to stop them, because Angel was starting to look slightly confused. I didn't want her to know anymore inappropriate things than she already did — a six year old with a bad word vocabulary bigger than mine is already quite enough, thank you very much.

"Getting back to the discussion at hand," I said pointedly, ruffling Nudge's hair. "I think it's sufficient to say that right now, we have a two on two vote for and against going back to school."

"Excuuuse me?" Total jumped onto my lap with a thump. "I don't believe you are forgetting someone?"

"Right, a two on _three_ vote for and against going back to school," I corrected quickly, before Total could start pouting. "Gazzy?"

"Umm… I'd have to agree with Angel on this one. Sorry, Ig, but I thought it was really fun at school too, even though there were a lot of jerks and stupid people. I liked bombing the boys' bathroom the best. If we go back to school, maybe we can try that new super—" The look on my face must have stopped him, because he cut off before finishing the sentence. I decisively ignored his last comment — it wouldn't do anything if I told them to stop anyways, so I would just pretend I didn't hear about it.

So it was up to Fang. I couldn't help but grin inwardly — there was no way he would agree to going back to school. "Fang? What do you think?"

Fang looked around at the hopeful eyes looking at him naïvely (well, with the exception of Iggy, of course), and then he looked back at me, his eyes apologetic. I think I was just in time to change my smug expression to one of horror before he mumbled, "I think it would be a good idea to go back to school too."

Crap.

"Waitaminit, _who_ are you, and what did you do with the real Fang?" I demanded, as all around me cheers erupted from the younger kids. I grabbed him by the shoulders, tilting his head back and forcing him to look at me. He looked up, his face expressionless, except for a hint of laughter in his eyes.

"I thought it would be nice to have access to a computer in order to continue with my blog, and I didn't want to keep on asking Dr. Martinez to borrow her laptop," he confessed, and then grinned at me cheekily.

What the _sh_? Fang, _Fang_ had just agreed to go to school in order to continue work on his _blog_? Was he completely and utterly _insane_? I stared at him, my right-hand man, who had suddenly betrayed me in order to _post on his blog_.

Finally, I decided to close my mouth before I started catching flies.

"Fine," I sighed, the beginnings of a migraine starting to roll in. "You win. Next week we enroll in _school_."

I was going to hate myself for this.


	2. Preparations

A/N: And we finally get to chapter two. Thank the goddess!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story — James Patterson does — because if I did, the Red-Haired Wonder would have died in a car accident shortly after being introduced.

**Chapter Two —**

I hate myself.

There has been at least forty-two times this past hour I have mentally reviewed the reasons I should not have let the flock win on this one. First of all, there could be Erasers out there. Secondly, in case Virginia wasn't hint enough, didn't the word "school" have only negative connotations in my book? In the third place, this uniform makes my wings look incredibly deformed, not to mention the fact I can't cut wing slots in the back, meaning up, up, and away is not exactly possible anymore. Fourthly, since when did we become a democracy? Not to mention, lastly, a reason I could hardly even admit to myself, what if there's another Red-Haired Wonder?

Quickly, I surreptitiously looked up at Fang, sitting at the other end of the table, only to find that he had been staring directly at me. Hurriedly, blushing slightly, I turned away and started an animated conversation with Ella, who was as nervous as we were. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang narrow his eyes as he stared at me, one eyebrow raised in faint questioning.

"Are we ready, kids?" Total asked unhappily, his voice dripping sarcasm. He was upset that we were leaving him behind, but I would have happily switched places with him if it meant that I could stay home. My stomach was doing summersaults as I wondered exactly what nightmares would occur this time around. Not a happy thought.

I was barely able to eat anything at the thought of what could happen during the course of a school day, however, I was still able to choke down three pieces of toast and two scrambled eggs, as I remembered that the lunches in school would only be the tiny ones with portions only big enough for normal humans. As in, like, non-mutant freaks.

Mom noticed my discomfort, and she stood behind my chair, rubbing my back comfortingly. "Ella, be sure to help Max and the rest of the flock fit in, okay, honey?" She smiled at us all. "You'll all do fine." We looked back at her with varying degrees of disbelief, starting with me at the bottom, looking completely sick, to Fang and Gazzy, both of whom had started to look like they regretted their decision to go to school, up until Angel, who was looking extremely excited, probably in anticipation to start manipulating the minds of her peers.

"Angel, I don't want anything unusual happening in your classroom, do you understand?" I looked at her sternly, as she glanced up from her coffee and looked at me with all the innocence of the world in her eyes. "This includes, but is not limited to, extended recess times, unlimited lunch portions, no homework, or anything else unusual of the sort." It was hard to keep looking at her with such sternness when she had her innocent face on.

"Could I get my classmates to play Swan Lake with me?" Angel gave me her most charming smile. "All I need is one boy to play the prince, and another to play the bad guy."

I could imagine it now — every kid in the first grade participating in a perfect rendition of Swan Lake during recess. _That_ would go over well.

"No, sweetie. If you really need a prince that bad, get Gazzy to do it for you." I grinned at the thought of Gazzy playing the part of the handsome prince.

"Wait, what?" The Gasman looked up from stuffing his face with toast and swallowed audibly. I saw a huge chunk of food bulge as it was all forced down his throat.

"Nothing," I grinned, "just eat your food. If Angel comes up to you later this week asking you to help her dance Swan Lake, remember it's not my idea."

Before Gazzy could protest, I turned back to the table, raising my voice over the loud crunching and chewing noises. "Hey everyone, listen up! I want you all to remember to fit in, okay? We need to remember not to show anything different about us — we don't want anyone to doubt that we are anything but human. Got it? That means no mind control, no bombing, no magnetism, no nothing. I don't want to see or hear a single thing wrong said about you, okay?" Gazzy gave me a meek smile as I mentioned the bombs, and Nudge shrugged while drinking her orange juice when I looked at her pointedly. It was probably too early — we weren't exactly early risers — the avian genes did nothing to help our wake up time.

Sighing, I sat down again, just as Jeb entered the room. Rubbing his eyes, he slid into the seat on the other side of me, across from Ella. Giving me an encouraging smile, he took my hand comfortingly. At least, it would have been comforting if he hadn't been such a stinking liar. I took my hand out of his and purposefully looked away. My eyes once again rested on Fang, just as he looked up at me again.

What was with that?

A/N: Somewhere in the world, a short, geeky girl stares at the screen of her laptop intensely. Cleaning off her glasses on her sleeve, she mutters "Ah, fiddlesticks. Let's get to the fun already, why don't we?"


	3. Cookies, Anyone?

A/N: Thank you all, reviewers and favoriters and watchers! I'm really happy to be getting so much feedback! *tears of joy*

To XxX-M.C. Marx-XxX: Thank you for your suggestion! I will be taking your ideas into consideration... *maniacal laughter* Anything to add to FAX, eh?

To lolpartygal2008: I must admit, I don't have any lingering love for Lissa either. But there is the whole conflict thing to consider... well, we'll just have to see what I think up of as time goes on.

TheCelticBlueMuppet: Thank you for catching that typo!

To 123-Cat-Cat-321, ep123, notjustink, SmartA55, and sparkleglitz01: Thank you for reviewing! I will work hard! *bows*

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN. *runs away crying*

**Chapter Three —**

It has been more than two weeks since I have started school at Saint Valentine's Private School for Advanced Children (I don't know what Mom was thinking, sending us to a school with a name like this) but so far, I have yet to encounter any major problems. Gazzy and Iggy did, however, blow up a stove in the school cafeteria — don't ask me how they did it, but I know it was them — but luckily, they weren't caught. I found a few instances where the teacher seemed to be just a little bit too nice to Angel, but I decided to ignore it for lack of any way to prevent it.

However, peace and quiet is never meant to last, as I only know so well.

It seems to me that Newton should have added a fourth law to his three laws of aerodynamics, or whatever they are, which is, "As long as something bad does not happen, something bad is bound to happen soon, and the longer it takes, the freaking worse it will get." Because this is totally, completely, and undeniably true.

It started that day in class. Fang (or rather, Nick), Iggy (also known as Jeff), and I were in the same ninth grade class, and as we were "working" on our new history project about the rise of Islam, our teacher, Mr. Langley, was passing out papers. After he had returned all our old assignments, he announced, "Okay, kids, as you probably all know, every year we have a school-wide field trip that…" I didn't hear the rest of it because I had just realized what he had said.

A _school-wide_ field trip? Is it just me, or does that plan make absolutely no sense at all? This school goes from kindergarten up to twelfth grade, and even though it's private, that a _heck_ of a lot of kids. Under normal circumstances, this might not be too big of a worry — although it could probably get quite worrying trying to order 1,093 Big Mac Meals from the MacDonald's drive through line — but add in six mutant bird-kids… things could get violent.

"…and as thus, I'd like you all to submit a vote as to where we should be going this year. The estimated price quotas are in parentheses next to the name of the location. You're more than welcome to take these slips home to discuss it with your parents." I blinked as I caught the last few sentences of Mr. Langley's announcement. We got to choose where we were going? And money would be a problem too… I didn't want Mom to have to pay for all six of us, as well as Ella.

I stepped up to the front of the room and grabbed three voting sheets, which were strewn on top of a table. Passing back the other two sheets to Fang and Iggy, I glanced down at my own.

Holy _sh_? We had a choice of going to Germany? And China? And even Japan? How the heck did the school plan on transporting our entire ginormous group of people to _Japan_? Oh. Right, well the price of $3,500 (airplane tickets not included) would go pretty far into explaining that.

"Fnick, what does it say?" I glanced back and saw Iggy and Fang with their heads close together, as Fang explained the contents of the paper to Iggy. Looking up, he caught my eye, and then gave a smirk as he mouthed, _Germany?_

I grinned back, walking over to him. Sitting down at my desk with a thump, I turned to face the two of them. "Well how about that, eh?"

"Who knew Germany was on our itinerary of travel?" Fang murmured, raising a thin eyebrow. "And only for $3,250."

"Without plane tickets included," I added, grinning back. "I wonder what happens if someone can't afford to go on the trip?"

"Well, this is a private school," Iggy pondered, his face unusually serious. "I wonder if it would be suspicious if we didn't buy plane tickets…"

"No, it says here that we all have to go by the same airlines, so the school can keep track of us. But I can't say I like the idea of going anywhere on an airplane." I shuddered, imagining being trapped in an airplane with an eraser. "I mean, even we probably wouldn't be able to survive a plane wreck. And anyways, I don't want to put any strain on Mom. She has enough to deal with, without having to pay for six bratty bird-kids to go to Germany."

"Well, the closest place on this list would probably be California… although going there is the same price as going to Hawaii," Fang pondered, his eyes thoughtful. "Why don't we take this home and see what the rest of the flock thinks, as well as Dr. Martinez?"

"Fine by me," I said, already imagining the horrendous things that could happen on a field trip like this.

The bell rang, interrupting my horror-filled musings. I rushed out of the classroom, only to find Nudge already there, waiting for me. The moment she saw me walk out of the classroom, her eyes lit up and she started talking.

"Like, ohmigosh, Max! Did your teacher tell you that we have a school-wide field trip every year?" She paused for a second, and I was about to reply when she began yammering again. "I'm so excited, because I took the voting slip Mrs. Segerdahl gave me and there were all these, like, totally amazing places on there, like Egypt and Germany and France, and you know like how I was talking about France, right? I mean, I really want to go to France again, although we could probably go there ourselves, but this will be a lot more fun because we will be able to go on a guided tour and stuff like that and there will be people to tell us where to go and what food tastes the best, you know? And I mean, the last time we went to France we didn't get much time to look around and I've heard that France has the best ice cream or something in Europe and I really want to try that because I really like ice cream, you know? And as for Germany, I know that's the place of all those wars and I think it would be fun to see if there are any war zones we can visit, and do you think it'll be like the training grounds back at the Scho—"

It was at this point that I stopped her, wary of any listening ears. Not only that, it felt like _my_ ears were bleeding, and I could feel a massive headache coming on.

"Nudge, sweetie, why don't you save this discussion until we get home, okay?" She nodded, and I took my hand away from her mouth. "Now, let's get the others and get out of here."

Back at home, I sat down at the kitchen table with a plate full of cookies, baked by Mom this morning, as well as a tall glass of milk, two bags of chips, three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which I made with the last slices of bread, one giant slice of cheesecake, and a bowl of strawberries. Nudge and Angel gathered around with their own stashes of food, and we all chomped away cheerfully. Ella watched the three of us munching through the pantry with a sort of horrified fascination, before leaving to start on homework.

I sighed contentedly as I sank back in my chair and let myself fall into chocolate chip cookie heaven. This peace was, of course, broken when Gazzy came into the kitchen and tried to steal one of my sandwiches. "Hands off my sandwiches, you little squirt!" I yelled, as he bit into my handiwork.

"You took the last slices of bread!" he protested, when I tried to snatch it back from him. Cramming the rest of the sandwich into his mouth, he dipped back in and filched one of my cookies. Now, that was too much! No one took my cookies!

I jumped out of my chair, stuffing one of the cookies half into my mouth and putting the other two into my pocket before running after him. He ducked out the door just as Fang and Iggy walked in; they were late because Iggy had been trying to convince Mr. Langley to waive him from his homework requirements. Gazzy skidded around them and pulled the door shut; by doing so, he pulled the doorknob out of Iggy's hand and he slipped backwards. I wasn't fast enough to dodge, and thus I crashed directly into him. I had been running too fast to stop myself, and in an effort to not fall over on top of Iggy, I reached out and tried to grab the first thing my hands met.

Which was Fang's arm.

There was a stupendous crash as the three of us fell on top of each other like a chain of dominoes.

There was a muffled grunt under me, and then a great scrabbling as we tried to untangle ourselves. "Mrrgghh…" I moaned, opening my eyes. And then I wished I hadn't, because who did I see right above me, his face inches from mine?

Fang.

We stared at each other, our breaths mingling in the sudden silence. I felt my face growing hot as his eyes locked into mine, his gaze intense and endless. It could have been a second or a minute or an hour before I was able to break off the contact, my eyes slipping out of the mesmerizing gaze of his. He looked down, his eyes resting on my lips. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest; apparently, Fang could feel it too, because he smiled, his eyes darting back up to my eyes again.

He leaned in, his lips slightly parted, pausing only millimeters from me. My heart beat into overdrive, my breathing became ragged. I closed my eyes tightly.

And then he bit into the cookie which I still held between my lips.

"Uhh?" My eyes sprang open in shock as Fang pulled back from me. His eyes were laughing as he chewed the bite of cookie he had stolen. I had forgotten that I still clenched one of the cookies between my teeth; my face became hotter than ever as I realized he had felt the fierce pumping of my heart and he knew what I had been thinking when I closed my eyes.

I had thought that he was going to kiss me.

And I hadn't pulled away.


	4. More Preparations

A/N: Chapter four… This entire chapter is fluffy-fluff-fluffz, which is part of the reason why it's taken so long to get this out. I've also been dying with my stupid homework, so I haven't had many chances to work on this until now. Thank God for Thanksgiving, eh?

In addition to some (major) OOC-ness, I must add that I can't account for any actual realism in my stories, so please forgive me for that. If you've noticed that people with American passports can't get into China, don't begrudge me for it. Please.

Thankies for reading, peoples! Review please!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. However, I would be willing to purchase Fang for a reasonable sum of money. Does anyone know where I can go to buy him?

**Chapter Four —**

My face burned as I detangled myself from Iggy; it seemed that he had bumped his head on the floor pretty hard — luckily, it was carpeted — and was out cold. Turning away from Fang's smug expression, I quickly assessed the situation.

Apparently, Nudge and Angel were too used to loud crashing sounds coming from wherever Gazzy went, because neither of them came to investigate. Just as I was surveying the damage, Ella peeked out of her room. "Max? Is everything all ri— oh my goodness!" She bolted down the stairs to Iggy, her eyes wide. "Iggy? Iggy!" Her shouts soon attracted the girls, and they came in to check out the commotion.

"Is he alright?" Nudge exclaimed, rushing forward when she saw Iggy lying on the floor. "Oh my gosh, what happened here?"

I shook my head, my face burning again as I remembered what had just happened. Quickly, I stuffed the rest of the offending cookie into my mouth before it could betray me again. Fang looked still looked faintly amused by my expression, his eyes never leaving me once during the commotion. "I'm going to get some water," I muttered, walking out of the room. I half expected Fang to follow me, but to my relief, he didn't.

Grabbing a bowl from the cupboard, I filled it to the brim with water and carefully carried it back out to the door. With quick precision, I flung out the contents of the bowl in Iggy's direction, while secretly aiming for Fang. My aim was accurate; a majority of the water was dumped onto Iggy, but some of it splashed onto Fang's broad back. He jumped, turning to glare at me as I snickered evilly.

"Muuhpfh!?" We all turned back as Iggy spluttered, gasping as he sat up. "What the hell just happened?"

"Uh, you see," I started, "Gazzy had stolen my cookie, so I was trying to get it back from him and then he ran—" I was interrupted when the door swung open, hitting Iggy in the backside just as he was standing up. He was sent flying right into Nudge, who jumped back before she fell. She hit Angel and Ella, and then they collapsed into Fang, who was pulled down right at my feet. I looked down at the huge pile of moaning bodies in front of me, and then I looked up at the stunned face in the doorway.

"Hi, Mom."

-----

"…and that's what happened. And speaking of that, where's Gazzy? That little twerp started it, and he's still not back yet." I harrumphed over dinner as I told everyone the story (minus my little stint with Fang, of course).

"Well, he'll probably be coming in anytime now for dinner, and then we can get him." Iggy growled, nursing his shattered pride and his sore head. "I can't wait to get my hands on him…"

I was about to respond when I heard the front door open. "He's here!"

We all pretended nothing was wrong as the Gasman scurried into the room cautiously. He glanced about at all of us, quietly eating our dinners, and then scuttled into his seat and grabbed a plate.

Silence, but for the clinking of silverware.

"So… I got an e-mail about some field trip coming up in two months. Ella's just started at this school too, so does anyone want to fill me in about that?" Mom looked around at us, wary of anymore destructive stunts we might pull.

"Right," I started, shaking the cobwebs from my head, "I wanted to talk to you about that. We got a handout about the trip… er… where is it?" I snatched a paper from the counter behind me. "Here.

"We wanted to see what you though about it before we decided anything. The trips are pretty expensive, so I didn't want to vote for a place you would have trouble paying for. I know we're a bit of a handful…" I glared at Gazzy, who grinned at me meekly. "What do you think, mom?"

"Well, it actually depends on you, Max. What would you like to do? Money isn't the problem here."

I gawked. "Mom, there's six of us, not including Ella. If we all had to pay for a trip to Senegal, that would mean a total of… er, a total of — I mean, we would have each pay $3,900 as well as plane tickets. Although," I added as an afterthought, "plane tickets probably aren't wholly necessary."

"No, Max, haven't I told you? Jeb is supplying support payments for me. He knows I'm obviously not earning enough to support all of you, so he has been sending support checks to me for the last six months. If I were to talk to him about the field trip, I'm sure we could work something out."

What the _freak_?

"Oh. I wasn't aware that—" Now that I thought about it, it made sense. Mom couldn't possibly have had the means to support us herself, and seeing as Jeb was the one who had gotten us into this mess, he should be the one to get us out. Not to mention the fact that as an illegal wacko scientist, he probably had millions holed up in some fancy vault in Ireland or something.

"Does this mean we can go to France?" Nudge bounced in her chair eagerly, her dinner forgotten. "Although, since I've been there before, I'm not sure I want to go there again. What do you guys think about Hawaii? I've always wanted to go to a beach in Hawaii! But it's pretty close, and we could probably go there ourselves… I think we should go to China then. Cuz, like, China is really far away, and we don't know Chinese, so we could go there with, like, translators or something, and they could show us the cool things in China, you know? I wonder if China is anything like Chinatown? I bet—"

Iggy cut her off. "Are you saying we really can choose to go anywhere we want to?" His hands were gripping the table in excitement.

"I don't see the point," interjected Fang, "seeing as we can fly anywhere we want to if we so wish."

"But we get to stay in fancy hotels and go on guided tours!" Angel had gotten up out of her seat and was tugging at my sleeve. "Oh, pretty please, Max? Can't we go?"

Before I realized the utter stupidity of doing so, I looked at Angel. Her eyes were huge as she stared up at me, and then there was no way I could say no. In the back of my mind, I faintly wondered whether she was manipulating me, even as I said, "Oh, alright."

Everyone cheered uproariously, and I shook my head, wondering what the _heck_ had possessed me to agree to going. Fang only glared at me, as if to say _you idiot_. I glared back, mouthing, _and whose idea was it to go to school in the first place_? We continued glaring at each other while the flock yelled wildly around us, before he sighed and looked away.

"Hold the phone," I shouted, "everybody sit down!" After a few more seconds of screaming, the noise subsided and everyone's eyes turned back to me. Mom shot me a grateful look as she breathed a sigh of relief. "We need to decide where we are going."

"Can't we all just vote for where we want to go?" Gazzy piped up for the first time after sitting down at the table. I frowned at him, and he became suddenly very involved in the process of eating his food.

Ella tapped the table thoughtfully. "Well, where do we all want to go?"

"I just think it would be best if we could agree on a place, and that way we can check with mom and see if the prices work okay," I pointed out.

"Dr. Martinez, what do you think?" Iggy faced her in a way which would have been disconcerting if any of us had not been used to the fact that he was blind.

"I really am okay with any place," she intoned quietly, setting down her fork. "I just want you all to be happy wherever you're going. However, I would recommend a place farther away, a place you normally wouldn't visit by yourselves. That way, you can get the whole experience."

"We'll need to remember that the place we vote for won't necessarily be the place we go." Fang murmured.

"Right then," I said, taking charge, "where do we want to go?"

"China!" Nudge cried, popping out of her chair. "Dya think—"

I cut her off before she could start one of her rants. "Do we have anyone else for China?" I said, looking around the table.

"I've always wanted to go there too," said Ella thoughtfully.

"Well, I want to go to Africa!" Gazzy cried, spewing food all over the table. "My bad," he added, swallowing audibly. "I want to see a real, _wild_, lion," he continued, oblivious to the _ewws_ and _yucks_ coming from the girls across the table from him.

"How about Japan?" Angel asked. "That's where a lot of toys are made. I think Celeste was made in Japan," she said, lifting the small dress on her (no longer quite so very white) angel bear. "Yeah, she was."

Fang shrugged, his countenance indifferent. "Japan is fine with me," he said. "Japan has a lot of computer geeks, and I hear their computers are top-notch."

I rolled my eyes. Fang and his beloved blog.

"New Zealand…" Iggy muttered, cocking his head to one side. "I think it snows there, right? And I hear they make great pies."

I looked around at everyone around the table. They were all thoughtful, as if faced with a huge dilemma, which I suppose they were in a way. "Seeing as everyone has different opinions on where we should go, and seeing as we don't really have any power over where we're really going, I'm thinking we should just vote independently then." I shrugged, looking at the faces around the table. They all nodded slowly, and I sat back in my chair. "I guess that's that then. There's no point worrying about it any longer, so why don't we just eat our dinners?"

Dr. Martinez nodded. "Let's."


	5. Airplane Ride

A/N: Let the eighteen hour airplane ride begin!!

As for my last chapter, I'm really sorry it was so boring! I have a (highly annoying) tendency to go on long rants… I'll try to break that habit, sorry! Thanks for mentioning it, SmartA55! Hopefully this chapter is a little more interesting… .

To spreadurwingsandfly311: Thank you so much! I don't plan on ending soon, because, as I said, I'm a very fluffy writer. Please continue to follow my story!!

To rootlessdream, maximumchrisyt, XxX-M.C. Marx-XxX, and SavingTheWorldMaxStyle: Yay! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

And again, thank you to all my favoriters and watchers! If you have the time, I hope you review sometime!

Disclaimer: Me no ownz.

**Chapter Five —**

I shuddered with a terrible sense of antipathy as I boarded the plane with my luggage in tow. I was starting to feel the oppression already, and I had barely gotten on the plane! Glancing around nervously, I passed the overly-welcoming flight attendants and squeezed through the mob, down the narrow aisle.

"Fang," I whispered to the dark form behind me, "which seats were we?"

His voice was directly over my shoulder when he answered, "D24 and D25." His quiet voice tickled my ear in a very distracting way, and I'm pretty sure I jumped about five feet forward. After apologizing profusely to the lady in front of me whose heels I stepped on, I turned on Fang. "I told you I hate it when you do that!"

He looked back at me impassively. "Whatever do you mean?"

I simply glared at him before turning again and following the line in front of me to our seats.

The seats we had gotten were scattered all around the airplane, which had caused a huge bout of fretting on my part when we received our seating arrangements. The plane we were riding on was huge, with three window seats on either side and seven middle row seats between them. The tickets we got were three seats together near a window on the left, two seats together near the aisle but in the middle row, and two seats together near the window, but excluding the window seat itself. As thus, we had to go through a long and winding process of making seat arrangements.

First, I made a plan for the boys to get the three seats together, so that Fang could watch over Gazzy and Iggy, and then Angel and Nudge paired off and Ella and I paired off. It was obviously the best arrangement, but, of course, nothing was that easy.

The girls started objecting to the boys getting the seats together. Nudge and Ella had become close, because they had similar interests, and they wanted to sit together. Ella also wanted to sit with me, but I said that there was no way we were leaving Angel. When I suggested that they could take two seats together and I could sit with Angel, Angel protested that she wanted to sit with Nudge. Gazzy and Iggy gallantly offered to sit together and give the girls the three seats together, but Fang was reluctant to let the two of them sit together without supervision. I agreed; they would probably destroy the plane to a smoldering pile of ashes if left to their own devices.

Angel then offered to play rock-paper-scissors with Fang for the seats; obviously, he refused that offer, so Nudge played Fang for it. Unfortunately, Fang lost, meaning that the girls got the three window seats. Gazzy and Iggy refused to be separated, so in the end, I ended up sitting with Fang and the rest was history.

Now, you may ask why I did not exert my leader-ly forces on them, seeing as we were obviously no democracy. The reason for that lies in the fact that the flight is going to be eighteen hours long. I am not willing to sit through eighteen hours of whining from five unhappy mutants and one unhappy half-sister; thus, I decided it would be best to let the mutants and half-sister come up with their own plan.

Now, as I sit down in my window-seat-minus-the-window, I am starting to regret the decision. Fang seems awfully close for comfort when he sits down in the seat next to me, his hand brushing mine as he sets it on the armrest. I quickly relinquish the position, placing both of my hands in my lap. A very voluptuous — and that's being nice — man arrived a few minutes later, and, after glancing at the seat past the two of us, with our sharp elbows and knees, he offered to switch with Fang. I pause, and Fang and I exchange looks. If we were to sit closer in, it would decrease our chances of escape. But, seeing as we're in a freaking airplane, the chances of escape are pretty slim anyways, so, with a slight nod from me, Fang agreed.

The two of us scoot down one chair, so that I now have the window seat and Fang is cushioned in the middle. I have to smother a giggle at the expression on Fang's face when the man sat down and a fold of his fat fell on Fang's arm. He hurriedly withdrew the arm from the armrest, leaning towards me so as to not touch the man who was now spilling bits and pieces of his anatomy out of his chair.

Fang's hair brushed in front of my face, and the soft smell of his shampoo washed over me. I blushed at his proximity, remembering what had happened a month ago when he almost kissed me. Gently, the back of his head bumped my nose, and, in an abrupt motion, he turned around. Involuntarily, I inhaled sharply when I found our faces only inches apart again. He stared up at me wordlessly, and I could feel my chest constricting. Delicately, his black lashes brushed his cheek as he slowly blinked, looking at me like a contented cat.

And then he was gone, sitting back into his seat again. I sat back too, my shoulders relaxing, feeling a rush of unidentified feelings. Relief, for sure, but… maybe some disappointment as well.

As a reader, I'm expecting you to keep what I'm disclosing to you a complete secret from Fang. I'm not even sure what's possessing me to tell you this.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Fang's low voice interrupted my thoughts, and, jolting upright, I readily veered away from the path of rumination I had just been heading down.

"Excuse me?"

Fang rolled his eyes, choosing — for once — to ignore my transitory lapse of attention. "Remind me, if you'd please, why I decided to agree to going to Taiwan with the entirety of our lovely school of Saint Valentine's?"

"Remind me, if you'd please, who it was who decided we would go to our lovely school of Saint Valentine's in the first place?" I shot back, smirking.

"Right," he sighed, shaking his dark head, "you won't let me forget that one, will you?" I grinned, shaking my head in turn, our momentary awkwardness forgotten, or at least for the time being.

"Well, you have a whole eighteen hours of prodding to look forward to before we land in Taipei," I said, determined not to let him off the hook.

"Right. I'm looking forward to that."

We both quieted as the display in front of us flared to life, and a very creepy woman with a too-big smile and an excess of eyeliner popped up on the screen.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Airwan! Today, you are onboard airplane AW-78-42, headed to Taipei, Taiwan. The ride will last approximately seventeen hours and thirty minutes. We will be departing shortly. For more flight information, such as arrival times and altitude, please consult your personal monitors.

"Now, please watch carefully as we broadcast the safety demonstration, as well as a short demo as to how to relax and reenergize yourselves in a foreign territory. Once again, we'd like to thank you for trusting Airwan."

I watched the screen halfheartedly as it flipped through screens of starched looking men and women in identical puce colored uniforms, animatedly showing passengers how to buckle their seatbelts and press the flight attendant call button. Briefly, I wondered whether there was anyone on the plane who actually didn't know how to fasten a seatbelt.

A few minutes later, after a series of short advertisements, another movie popped up. This time, it showed three female flight attendants, teaching the passengers simple stretches and exercises used to relax on the airplane. I started following some of their exercises, until I noticed Fang looking at me impishly. Glaring back at him, I sank into my chair and stayed like that until the demo was over. It was going to be a looong flight.

I stayed sitting stubbornly for a while, but it was only a matter of time before I started feeling sleepy. After all, I had just survived a hectic week of planning, packing, and worrying. Glancing over at Fang, I noticed that he too had closed his eyes, so I closed mine too. I wouldn't go to sleep, just rest my eyes for a few… minutes…

-----

I woke up feeling very drowsy and content, not unlike how I would imagine a cat feels after drinking a saucer of milk. It was quite comfortable, actually. I stretched a little, wriggling further into the soft warmness under my head.

Waitaminit. Under my head? That wasn't right. I was sitting up, not lying down. Opening my eyes, I blinked a few times before I could get my bearings. It appeared that I was looking at a fold of cloth. A fold of black cloth. A fold of black cloth that was, as I was starting to suspect, attached to…

Fang.

What the freak.

I glanced up quickly, my mind cleared of all its drowsiness. _My head was in Fang's lap_. Holy guacamole, how did that happen? Immediately, I ricochet out of his embrace, landing with a thump back in my own seat. Fang opened one eye to look at me. Even with only one eye open and a sleepy (A/N: *cough*adorable*cough*) look on his face, I could see the smugness in his expression. That stupid son of a—

His eye shut again, and he murmured, "You fell over. You should stop straining yourself, Max." Then, apparently completely at peace, his breathing slowed and he appeared, for all purposes, to be asleep.

I glared at him for a while longer before I allowed my brain to go back and think about what had just happened. My face flushed, and I turned away, in case Fang opened his eyes again. I fell over? Face first into his lap? It was — that couldn't — it couldn't have happened! It wasn't true!

And then I realized that it actually couldn't be true.

If I had fallen over, I wouldn't have landed on Fang. I would have landed on the armrest that separated us. Stealing a furtive glance back over at Fang, I noticed that _the armrest had been put up_. _Somebody_ put the armrest up.

I'll give you one guess at to who it was.


	6. In Taiwan

A/N: And so we finally reach the actual start of the field trip (in my mind, this is where the story began, but, like I said, I'm too addicted to fluff to let it start at that). Next chapter we will be arriving at the hotel. Feel free to pose activities for the flock to do on the field trip! If there is a suggestion I really like, I might even incorporate it into my story next chapter~ Thankies!

To K. A Zerlang: I love your word! Adorkableness~

To spreadurwingsandfly311: Ah-noes! I was trying for as much realism as possible, but I guess it's probably still really OCC, huh? Unfortunately, I don't know how I should make Max react to Fang's advances, so I just sort of guesstimate. However, if someone is willing to get me a Fang, I would be more than willing to experiment with him (just Fang would be fine, thank you).

To notjustink: Are you suggesting I should fluff it up some more? Eh heh heh, okay then. Just remember, you suggested it, not me!

To jenfan456: Actually, she didn't land on him… he kinda… waitaminit! I'm supposed to let make your own inferences on that!

To powerkitty: They are going to Taiwan because, despite my love for Japan, I'm actually quite clueless to the workings of its society. In the book, you can assume that the majority of the students voted for Taiwan, so the flock had to go to Taiwan instead. I was planning to write another chapter about the vote at school, but that would have been pretty boring, so I decided against it. :D

To rootlessdream, the7thflockmember, SmartA55, sparkleglitz01, MAYNIAC LOVES Her New Picture, FAXloverTOtheMAX, ep123, maximumcullenxxx, MissFANG-faximumfan, and SavingTheWorldMaxStyle: I love reviews! Thank you so much~! (^_^)

Disclaimer: Not. My. Characters.

**Chapter Six —**

The rest of the plane ride passed by quickly, and after a quick check on the rest of the flock and Ella — when I walked up, Gazzy was drawing on Iggy's face using a sharpie while he slept, while the girls were watching Romeo and Juliet — I took the opportunity to get some much needed sleep. After the initial shock of waking up nestled into Fang, I was unable to fall asleep for sometime — especially as I wondered whether I actually _had_ fallen onto him — but soon exhaustion overcame me and I fell asleep again.

I woke just as light was peeping in from under the window covering to my left. Glancing to my right, I noticed that Fang's seat empty. Looking up at the fat man, I saw that he was asleep and snoring with a thunder-like sound; there was no way Fang could have squeezed around him to get out without waking the man. I started to panic, imagining all the horrible things that could have happened to Fang, and instinctively reached out to touch the seat. Suddenly, my hand hit resistance, and, before I could pull back, something gently fastened on my index finger.

At that same moment, just as I was about to give a shout of horror, Fang appeared in the seat, looking quite self-satisfied.

He had _bitten_ my _finger_.

Instead of a shout, a squeak escaped my lips as his sudden reappearance in the visible realms sent my heart rate skyrocketing. "What are you doing!?" I whispered hoarsely, trying to gently extract my finger from within his mouth, without making it seem like I was. "What if that fat dude was awake and saw you disappear?"

A smirk twitched at the side of his mouth, and reaching up a hand, he grabbed my wrist, but allowed my finger to escape. "I was asleep. I can't control what my body does when I'm asleep."

"Well then, how did you know I was reaching for you?" I tugged at his grasp, my skin feeling incredibly hot against his cool touch.

His hand tightened. "I dreamt I was eating ice cream. When you poked me, I thought I was still asleep." His grin had turned into one of his rare smiles, and he lifted my hand to his mouth again. My heart gave a hollow staccato beat as he massaged the inside of my palm, his breath gently touching my fingertips. Just as I was starting to pull away again — this time, I wouldn't be so surreptitious about it — Fang popped my finger back into his mouth. His eyes were bright with mirth as I felt him quickly lick my finger.

"I think the ice cream tasted better."

My breath came in a gasp as I pulled my hand away. Fang didn't try to stop me, but his eyes stayed locked on mine. Tucking both my hands safely into the pockets of my jeans, I broke the contact, trying to think of a safe topic to broach.

Just then, the overhead lights came on, relieving me from a further need to talk. A flight attendant walked by slowly, admonishing the people in front of us to "please stow your food trays and put your seats in an upright position". I quickly put my seat back up, as did Fang, before she reached our row. When she reached us, she first looked at the two of us, then politely tapped Mr. Blubber on the shoulder. When he continued snoring like a small foghorn, she started shaking his shoulder, saying, "Sir? Sir?"

He woke with a snort, and opened his eyes blearily. "What?"

"Sir, we are about to land in twenty minutes. Please put your seat in an upright position."

Grumbling, he reached around to put up his chair. Fang leaned back into me as Mr. Blubber's arm flowed halfway into his seat, and I grinned. "I wonder if he can reach the lever?" I whispered quietly into Fang's ear.

"I wonder if he can see the lever," was Fang's hushed reply.

I snorted quietly, and allowed myself to store away Fang's latest strange doing, along with all the other weird things that had happened as of late. If I didn't think about it, it wouldn't hurt me. Right?

The plane buzzed with quiet activity as excited passengers and other students who had chose to ride this plane were roused and revived. In spite of my bad premonitions throughout the course of the ride, I was starting to get excited as well, and a tingle ran down my spine as I considered what I would do in the week and half I would be in Taiwan. First, find a restroom where I could stretch my wings…

We sat in silence for a few minutes, while the plane glided gently downwards. My ears started to hurt, but a lifetime of flying gave me enough experience to open my jaw just enough to pop my ears. Unfortunately, some people on the plane were sadly less skilled in the air as I was, and a baby started crying.

I glanced over at Fang, who was sitting calmly in his chair, rotating his jaw to get rid of the sensation in his ear, and said nothing. The plane tilted downwards further, and I imagined the wind streaming around us, making me feel a strong pull to take flight — real flight, being propelled by my wings. One look at the longing on Fang's face, and I could tell he felt the same. The airplane was beginning to feel extremely small and confining, and the claustrophobia was starting to take hold of me. Instinctively, I reached out to grab Fang's arm, trying to contact someone who understood what I felt. My hand touched his arm, and he looked over at me, his gaze warm.

"It would be a pity if the plane broke down now, wouldn't it?" I tried for a joke to rid myself of the anxiety, but Fang saw through it. As soft as the touch of a feather, he laid his arm over my shoulder, and together, we rode out the rest of the plane's descent.

Before the seatbelt sign had been turned off, I had already picked myself up off the seat and started grabbing for my stuff. I seriously could not wait to _get off of this thing_. Stupid crowded airplanes.

It seemed like an eternity before the pilot's voice announced over the intercom, "This is the pilot speaking. We have arrived at CKS International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan. On behalf of all of us on Airwan Airlines, I would like to thank you all for trusting Airwan. For contact information about any further flights, we invite you to visit our website or call us. Once again, thank you for riding Airwan, and I hope you enjoy your stay in Taiwan." With a small blip, the intercom cut off, and then there was a general shuffling of feet as people started unloading their luggage and getting off. I waited impatiently as Fatty heaved and ho-ed and, with a great deal of effort, removed his fat butt out of the tiny seat. Fang glanced back at me as I shuffled anxiously, and gave me a small grin. I grinned back, excited to start my Taiwan trip, but also nervous. There were so many things that could go wrong… so many problems we could encounter… so many —

Anyways, since I've probably mentioned my qualms about this trip just over a quarter of a million times already, it's probably sufficient to assume that you readers already understand my fears.

A few minutes later, I was practically bowled over as a small body crashed into me from behind. My adrenaline pulsed for one short second, and I was already planning how to kick my assailant when I realized that the skinny arms wrapped around me did not, in fact, belong to an eraser. Forcing my pulse to slow, I slowly turned around and glared at Gazzy's beaming face.

"Save that for after we get off the plane please." I sighed, giving apologetic glances to the disgruntled people Gazzy had shoved aside to reach me.

"I'm so excited!" He started dancing around on the spot, grinning from ear to ear. "We get to stay in hotels, and eat in restaurants, and visit tourist sites, and buy stuff —"

"Right," I commanded, taking hold of his shoulders and steadying him, "off the plane. Now."

After barely managing to suppress Gazzy's excessive excitement, we met up with the girls and Iggy, who look extremely pissed off. I guessed from Ella's slightly horrified expression that she had told him who had vandalized his face.

"Gazzy, you are so dead." Yep. I was right.

"I dunno, it looks pretty good actually." Fang intoned, his face completely serious. "Gazzy, when did you learn how to draw a goat?"

"That's a cow, not a goat!" Gazzy was adamant. "See, and there's a fork and a spoon. And they're all jumping over the moon, which is Iggy's face!"

I suppressed a chuckle as I squeezed past Ella and patted Iggy on the back. "It'll probably wash off in a few days. Look on the bright side — at least Gazzy didn't decide to make you Humpty Dumpty."

His face was a deep pink as he lowered his head. "Ugh. Fine. Make fun of the blind kid. How many people are staring?"

I glanced around. There were a few people looking at our group with interest, but none of them had evil glints in their eyes or apparently bad intentions. "No one's noticed. Seriously, Ig, it's okay."

The line was moving quickly now, and our rag-tag group scuffled along, following the crowd. Hopping out of the plane and into the boardway, I think we all sighed a collective sigh of relief. Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty — if there was a God for mutant bird-freaks — free at last.

And then the heat hit us like a concrete wall.

Holy crumbs, it was freaking hot here! As we walked briskly up the walkway, sweat was starting to gather on the nape of my neck. Glancing around at the rest of the flock, I saw that they were fanning themselves in discomfort too. Why the heck was it so hot here?

My backpack was feeling very icky and making my shirt stick to my back. It must have been at least ninety-five degrees, and it was already September! The humidity was almost unbearable — it made me feel like I was breathing water.

How would we wear sweatshirts in this weather?


	7. Checking In

A/N: It's snowing where I live right now! I'm so happeh!!

I would like to apologize for this really long lapse of update-tion, but the reason for it is because my parents are trying to get me to not go on the computer anymore. See, I've been on the computer for a few hours everyday recently, and my parents got kinda mad. So now, whenever they see me on the computer, they try to make me do something else, no matter what excuse I feed them about homework or research or studying or whatever. I've been trying my best to work on this, so please forgive me!! .

Sooo — once again, I'd like to thank all my lovely reviewers! I haven't had much time to muck about online so I don't know all your usernames. Please accept my sincerest apologies in that I will not be giving personalized comments this time around.

Disclaimer: The sad but probably true fact is that, despite my wishes, if I had written this story it probably wouldn't be this popular.

**Chapter Seven —**

"…and teachers, be sure you stay with your fourth period classes whenever we leave the hotel. We are now arriving at the hotel we will be staying at. Students, please get into the preordained teams you have been assigned to. Once your entire group is together, you may come up to me and hand me your ticket, and I will hand out your keys. It is recommended that you get situated as soon as possible, because we will be meeting at the lobby in one hour, at which point in time we will be getting dinner. Thank you."

Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I suppressed the urge to tear off my clothes and jump into a lake. It was _so freaking hot_! Why the _fu_ did I come here?

Just then, Isabelle, a girl in my fourth period class I had sort of made friends with peeked over my seat and looked at me. Glancing at Ella, who had already changed into shorts and a t-shirt, she raised and eyebrow at my sweatshirt and jeans ensemble. "Aren't you hot wearing that, Max?"

"She is pretty hot wearing that, huh?"

I spun in my seat and stared at Fang, who had been sitting across the aisle from me. "Excuse me, F—Nick? Could you repeat what you just said?"

"I said you're probably pretty hot wearing that, huh?"

"No, that's not what you said."

"Yes it is."

I sighed, and decided to attack from another direction. "Like you're one to talk, Nick. If my eyes don't deceive me, that is a sweatshirt you're wearing?"

"Uh-huh. But who's the one sweating her pores out?"

He did have a point. Despite his black on black sweatshirt and cargo pants, I could not detect a single drop of sweat on his face. That boy was insane. Did he just _not have_ any sweat glands or what?

"Max, are you sure you should be wearing that?" Ella plucked at my sleeve worriedly. "What if you got heatstroke or something?"

"Nah, I'm fine." I forced out a smile. "We're nearing the hotel anyways. I'm sure most of the places we're visiting have air conditioning…"

"But why don't you change?" Isabelle gave me a sidelong glance, cocking her head. "Did you not bring any summer clothes or something?"

"No…" I paused, at a loss for words. How would I explain to her that it wasn't because I didn't want to change, but it was because I simply _couldn't_ change?

Luckily, I was spared a response as our bus hit a speed bump. We had arrived at the hotel.

-----

"Woohoo! Gotta love air conditioning!" With a flying (not literally, of course) leap, I crashed into the bedroom and bounced onto the bed. A completely un-leaderly display, of course, but it was just _so_ good to get out of the heat.

Nudge ran in after me, with Angel and Ella following close behind, and the four of us were soon all sprawled out on various beds and chairs, immersing ourselves in the amazing embrace of the air conditioner.

Now, you may ask why the four of us are in the same room together. Didn't the supreme leader, a.k.a. Principal Hanley, assign us to hotel rooms according to our fourth period groups? Well, that's a good question. Let's just say a little angel flew down from heaven and altered her thoughts slightly while my back was turned, and we'll leave it at that.

"We should probably unpack now, huh?" Ella was the first to recover, as she was actually wearing summer clothes. "Dinner's in an hour."

"Yeah…" Sighing, I got off the now slightly wrinkled covers and sat on the corner of the bed. "Here, you guys — girls — unpack. I'm gonna look around the room first…"

Jumping off the bed, I first went and locked the door, and then I started scouting the room for any spy or surveillance equipment. None.

"I think it's safe," I called out to Nudge and Angel, and at the same time, I let my wings loosen a little. It felt awesome, because they had been tucked in tightly for the entire bus ride, and they were feeling extremely icky and gross. Think skin feels sticky when it's humid? Try _feathers_.

Hyper with the joy of being able to finally relax, I hopped over to the bed and started unpacking my suitcase as well. "So do y'all know what we're gonna do after dinner?" I asked as I unfolded my favorite pair of jeans. "I know we're going to visit Taipei 101 later, and that one place… Palace History Museum or whatever?"

"I can't wait to go to the night market!" Nudge grinned hugely as she dumped everything out of her suitcase. Some of her clothes fell from the bed and onto the floor. "Oops." She bent to pick them up. "Anyways, I heard that you can get all sorts of cool things there, and for really cheap too! I can't wait! I wonder what they have for sale…? I'm looking for something unique, you know? Like, what does Taiwan stand for? What do you first think of when you think of Taiwan?"

"China…?" Angel blinked slowly, fluttering her long eyelashes. "I dunno."

"Pandas." I paused, thinking. "Or maybe that's China too."

"Drugs."

We all turned to stare at Ella. Not looking up from her methodical unpacking of her luggage, she said, "No, seriously. Did you know that Taiwan is shaped like a tobacco leaf?"

"Huh." I shrugged.

Suddenly, the door swung open with a bang, and all four of us jumped. However, only three of us immediately tensed and got into fighting positions. One guess as to who they were.

"Ha! I knew this was their room!" Gazzy strode in with an air of supreme dignity, smirking at someone behind him. "I'd hate to see what happens if those other girls tell Principal Hanley that you burst into their room, Iggy!"

"Oh, come on, give me a break. It's not like I can _see_."

Fang walked in quietly after Gazzy had already flopped down on the only comfortable chair in the room and Iggy (now with almost no sharpie stain left on his face) had cautiously felt his way in. "Yes. But they were changing."

"So? I couldn't even see them."

"They don't know that though."

"Well then, they won't know who I am, so they won't be able to report me even if they wanted to." Iggy gave a sigh. "If only I could see. I wonder if they were hot?"

Okay, this was going too far.

"What exactly did you do, Iggy?" I gave him my meanest glare — though it was sadly wasted on him — and stomped up to the wall he was leaning on. "You chauvinist _pig_. Did I just hear you say that you burst into a room of girls while they were _changing_?" I shook my head as Iggy opened his mouth, the denial showing on his face. "On second thought, I really don't want to know. If I don't know, I can't get in trouble for it. You three need to get out of this room now."

"How are the three of you guys sharing beds?" Angel smiled up at Gazzy as she tactfully changed the subject. "Since there are only three of you in the room."

"Oh, we did rock-paper-scissors and Iggy lost, so he's sleeping on the floor."

"I still say you guys cheated. How should I know who won and who lost? Stop picking on the blind kid, okay?"

Fang grinned. "You did lose though. And anyways, were going to ask the front desk for an extra mattress, so you won't be sleeping on the floor."

"Okay, seriously guys. _Get out_. _I'm_ gonna be changing soon. And are you guys actually done packing?" Looking at the three of them with fresh eyes, I noticed that they had all changed into lighter clothes. "Fang, turn around."

Raising a thin eyebrow, he did. The (black) t-shirt fell loosely from his shoulders and brushed his back gently, but did not show any unnatural bulges. "How did you do that, Fang?"

"I tied my wings down."

"What!? But what if we have to make a quick get away?" I paused, shaking my head. "And how? With what?"

He blinked twice, and then slowly lifted his shirt hem. I blushed as I realized that my question pretty obviously asked him to show me what he had done.

Glancing out the peephole in the door, Fang made sure there was no one outside, and then… he took his shirt off.

The first thing I noticed was the smoothness of his back and the gleam of his dark feathers as they poked out of the natural crevice along his spine. Blushing, I peeled my eyes off his broad shoulders and looked lower, refusing to be distracted by his long arms or even (A/N: *squeee*) the elastic of his boxers which were peeking out of the waistband of his jeans. Staring intently at the unnatural band over his wings, it took me a second before I could gather my thoughts enough to realize what it was.

It was cloth — a long strip of black cloth that was wound around his chest many times. It flattened his wings more than they would naturally go, so that they appeared connected to his back and not unnatural projections at all.

"We're all wearing one." Gazzy interrupted the silence as the three of us plus Ella stared at Fang. He pulled up his shirt as well, and turned his back to us. His mottled wings were also strapped down by a thin strip of cloth. "It was Fang's idea. This used to be one of his shirts, actually."

"That's dangerous." My voice was hard, and I imagined the further dangers of going around with our wings strapped down.

"They don't put us in anymore danger than we are in already." Fang turned and quickly put his t-shirt on again. I purposely didn't face him. "If I'm wearing a t-shirt without wing slots, it would still be a hassle to get my wings out, bound or not. And anyways, if I really need to, I'm pretty sure I can just rip the cloth apart as I unfold my wings." He pointed to the cloth on Gazzy's back. "They're thin strips for a reason."

I hesitated, torn. Nudge cleared her throat and walked over to me. "Uh, Max," she leaned over and whispered quietly, "we might have a bit of trouble with those." I frowned, looking at her. "You know. How it's wrapped around their chests…"

It took me a second to understand what she was trying to say.

Oh.


	8. Dinnah Time

A/N: Since my last chapter took so long to get out, I've been working my tail off trying to get this one out early (I hope y'alls appreciates it 'cuz it's four in the morning right now and I haven't slept yet. Gotta love sleepovers!). I think Max is kinda OOC in this one, but I couldn't think of another way to make her… ah, you'll see.

Uh, for those people who didn't understand the ending of my last chappie… uhh… well, (awkward) maybe you should look at the situation from a female's perspective? *hint*hint* The binding was wrapped around Fang's chest, and that's a problem for girls because… okies? Dya get it?

St. Fang of Boredom, if you ever read this, how about lending me your Fang?

Ahh, I'm too tired to give a really long author's note. Hope y'alls lieks it, and remember to review! *wanders off to find food*

Disclaimer: Yada yada not mine.

**Chapter Eight —**

In the end, Ella donated one of her t-shirts to the cause, and I ripped it up into thin strips. After booting the boys out of the room, we wrapped the cloth a bit lower than they did so as to divest ourselves of a great deal of annoyance. It didn't work as well, because the cloth was unable to strap down the curve of our wings, which was the part that stuck out the most — luckily, it did flatten them a bit and allowed us to wear clothes that were a bit lighter, as long as they did not cling to our bodies.

"It's time for dinner!" I yelled, slamming open the bathroom door while still pulling on a loose t-shirt. The four of us practically bowled each other over trying to get out the door (well, maybe not Ella) because we were _starving_. The chintzy airplane rations we had received were long gone, and I, for one, was ready to indulge.

"Gahh!" I almost crashed into a girl outside our door before making a hairpin turn and jetting down the hall. "Sorry!" I called back, hoping she could still hear.

There was a huge swarm of people all around me, all heading to the lobby, so I stuck to the wall because there was a clearer path through there. I was four doors to the lobby when suddenly, a door swung open directly in front of me.

"Oh cr—" Even my ultra quick reflexes were unable to register in time for me to stop. I crashed directly into the door, banging it into the person who had pushed it open and practically smashing my face flat in the process. I heard a familiar _oomph_ on the other side of the door as the force of my body slammed it shut again.

The door opened as I sat up and rubbed my face jadedly. My nose felt like it had been bashed in.

Fang came out, clutching his stomach.

Oops.

He stared at me in disbelief, and then shook his head wearily. "I should have known." Rubbing his stomach, he slowly straitened his back. "Are you aware that you almost disemboweled me with a doorknob?"

"You shouldn't have opened the door so fast," I retorted, trying to ignore the giggles and murmuring all around me. "I think you smashed my face flat."

"Nah," he muttered, shaking his head. "Your skull is too thick for that."

"Excuse me? _What_ did you say?"

"Nothing."

Sighing, he cracked his back and walked over to me, putting his hand out for me to take. "Let's head over to the lobby."

"Roger that." I grabbed his wrist and pulled myself up, wincing as my head suddenly throbbed. "Oww."

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

We walked over to the lobby in silence, as people buzzed around us happily. There were at least a hundred people gathered there already, and the lobby was beginning to look like Disney World on Christmas Eve (nice analogy, huh?).

Looking around, I saw a carpeted ledge over in a corner, and looking back at Fang, I tilted my head to it. He nodded, and followed me over to the ledge.

"So. How are you doing with the boys?"

He sighed and sat down next to me. "Same old, same old. Gazzy and Iggy have been fighting all day. First Iggy was refusing to talk to Gazzy because of the Sharpie thing, but then Gazzy got mad and refused to talk to Iggy too. That was fine with me, but then they got bored, so they started bothering me. I told them to watch TV or something, but then they started fighting over the remote, so I told them to figure out the bedding arrangements. Then they started fighting over that too, which was why we went over to your room. And then… well, you know what happened then."

It was probably the longest thing he had ever said in the entirety of his life. I nodded sympathetically; I could totally imagine that happening with them.

His stomach growled, and then my stomach echoed it. We both grinned. "I wonder when dinner is," I said with a sigh. "I'm gonna die of starvation soon. Maybe I should go see if the others are down yet."

"Don't go." Fang's head nodded slowly, and then he leaned up against my shoulder. "Stay here a while longer." His lashes fluttered a few times and then he closed his eyes.

Now what do I do?

I was painfully aware of his nearness to me, as his hair tickled my neck. His soft inhales and exhales seemed to keep time with mine, and I smiled slightly at the thought. Trying not to move my shoulder, I slowly turned to look down at him. Fang looked so… innocent with his eyes closed, not at all like a mutant freak who could down any normal three hundred pound man with one hand tied behind his back. I blinked a few times, trying to get used to seeing Fang in a t-shirt without his wings showing. It was slightly disconcerting to see no angular points poking out of his back.

My shoulder was starting to get tired, but I didn't want to make Fang move, so I sighed and hunkered down. Hopefully Principal Hanley would decide to let us go for dinner soon.

Glancing around alertly for any sign of trouble, I only saw happy faces and carefree chattering around me, so I decided to close my eyes for a while. I wouldn't fall asleep — just rest my eyes for a little bit…

-----

I blinked quickly as the level of noise in the room changed. The room had fallen very quiet, and immediately I was on alert. Principal Hanley had started giving out instructions for dinner. Rats — I had fallen asleep after all. I guess the plane flight had tired me out more than I'd thought.

Then I blinked again, because I was sideways. Lifting my head, I found that I had sagged over a little and I had been resting my head on top of Fang's. Glancing around furtively in case anyone had seen my embarrassing display, I saw no one looking in my directing. I gave a sigh of relief. If anyone had seen me cuddling up with Fang…

The thought made my face flush as I remembered the incident on the plane. What had happened with that? Did Fang really put the armrest up? And why? He has more than once indicated more than sibling-ly love for me, but that had been a long time ago, and he never mentioned it since. There had been the cookie incident, but he hadn't really been about to kiss me, right? Shaking my head to dislodge all the disorder, I slammed the confusing memories back into the locked drawer of my mind, to ponder over another time.

"Ugh. Is it time for dinner _yet_?" Fang's voice was disgusted as he lifted his head from my shoulder. I looked at him, and then had to stifle a laugh. The place where his head had been resting on my shoulder and the place where my head had been resting on his were both mashed down, so his hair stuck out underneath it, giving him a cat-eared look that was strangely fitting.

"What?" He eyed me suspiciously, and then shook his head quickly, smoothing down his hair self-consciously. The "ears" stuck out again as soon as his hands passed over it. "What is it?" When I continued to giggle, he glared at me and stood up.

I stood too, rolling my shoulder to wake it up. "Don't worry, it's really nothing." He glared at me again, and then purposefully strode into the crowd. I followed, apologizing to people I bumped as I walked deeper into the huge group. I could still see Fang's kitty ears bobbing around in front of me, so I continued to follow him.

"Ah! Max! Fang! Over here!" Nudge's voice broke the silence before she quickly clapped her hands over her mouth. Principal Hanley glared at the direction where she was, but she could not see who the speaker was, so she left it with just a poisonous look.

"As I was saying, I would like to end by reemphasizing a few rules. Firstly, I was told that there were some boys who went into the girl's hallway. That is strictly prohibited, as your teachers should have told you. If I hear of any other cases of this happening, the offender will not be let off so easily." I grinned at Fang, who looked over at Iggy and shook his head. Iggy, even though he could not see us looking at him, sensed our looks and turned his face in our direction, sticking his tongue out at us.

"…which is dangerous and unruly, and gives our school a bad reputation. Since you should all know not to run in the hallways at school, I would expect you all to extend the same graces to all hallways, be it at school, in Taiwan, or on the dark side of the moon. Am I understood?"

There was a general hubbub of "yes's" and "uh-huh's" as she looked around at us. "Okay. Then you are excused for dinner. There are three restaurants within two blocks of this hotel, and there will be at least three teachers going to each one every half hour. Please find a teacher who will be going to the restaurant you want to eat at and stay with them until you are finished eating. That will be all."

I think we all sighed a collective sigh of relief as we were dismissed; I know the entire flock did. "Well, let's go get dinner."

"Right," agreed Nudge, nodding her head self-righteously. "By the way, Fang… What happened to your hair?"


	9. Night Market

A/N: I feel dead. (And I just realized that I wrote "dead" instead of "head" in the last sentence of my last chapter.) Gahhh. I _hate_ finals week. I've been studying like crazy recently, which is why I haven't updated in so long.

*Edit*: Thanks to Explodium for his correction! Taiwan is shaped like a _tobacco_ leaf, and they landed in _CKS International Airport_. As for the airlines, it is called Airwan because even though I thought Eva was a good airline (and thank the goddess, they don't wear puce uniforms), I wanted to make Max and the flock a bit more picky. I was afraid people might get mad because I'm putting Eva down, so I gave them a fictional airlines to bad-mouth. Just in case anyone else was wondering. Also because of that edit, I've decided to change my story. This chapter used to be on Taipei 101, but I don't want to make it offensive to Explodium or anyone else by talking about it rudely (or rather, making the flock talk about it rudely), so I am forgoing all the chapters on Taiwan's sights and scenery. Unfortunately, this means I've just lost about three chapters or so. So, if anyone has any suggestions on content or setting, please tell me!

To Foxy Sox: I'm glad you liked my last chappie! I hope you like this next one too, even though there isn't much action!

To .-: Aww, now come on. I'm sure this hairstyle is amazing in it's own way too, eh? ;)

To TheNextCullen332: Er… could you repeat the question?

To Who are you I am me. and Nikik: Thank you so much for your support! It's comments like these that make me want to ignore homework and work on this story instead! Luffles y'alls~! .

To irock329, hitachiinAlways79, SmartA55, jenfan456, and ep123: Yah, I've always imagined Fangy-poo with kitty ears… he's always seemed really cattish in my mind.

To curlscat, Kitten-in-the-skyy, lizivy, sparkleglitz01, ObSeSsEd-717, and My Underworld Nightmare: Thankies~! Please continue to support me in my rambling aspirations!

Disclaimer: Ya know, I've always wondered what would happen if the author of a book decided to write a fanfiction on their own book. Would they feel a sense of insane rule-breaking glee as they wrote the disclaimer, or would they say something like "Mwa ha ha ha ha! I wrote this book, and thus all these characters belong to me!"? Something to ponder.

**Chapter Nine —**

"Eww… what is this?" Gazzy made to poke the mound of odd looking gloop in front of him, and then withdrew his hand quickly as he thought better of it. It was greenish and had a lot of oval-shaped brown seeds poking out of it.

"Eat it. I dare you." Iggy taunted. "What does it look like, Fang?"

"A kiwi on steroids, but without the outer fluff." I raised an eyebrow at Fang, who smirked back at me. "Well, it's true."

I looked at the short Taiwanese woman behind the counter who gave me a huge smile. She pointed at the fruit (at least, I _think_ it's a type of fruit) and then pretended to eat it and rub her tummy. "I think the lady wants us to buy it."

Iggy crossed his arms. "Eat it, Gazzy. I had to eat the cow tongue."

"Yeah, but I ate the chicken feet before that."

"And I ate the stinky tofu, but you wouldn't because I spat it out."

"You practically passed out on the ground! And anyways, the smell alone is more than enough for me."

"Excuse me? The Gasman telling us that something smells bad?"

"I still say you have to eat it. I ate the dragonfruit."

"But that actually tasted good!"

"No it didn't! I didn't like it! It was too slimy."

"Enough guys." I cut in, rolling my eyes. Ever since we had arrived at the night market after dinner, Gazzy and Iggy had been having an ongoing testosterone battle to see who would eat the weirder things. So far, I had already bought them cow tongue, chicken feet, pig intestines, pig ears, stinky tofu, dragonfruit, guava, as well as a sports drink unhappily named Pocari Sweat. Things were getting out of hand.

"Can I get another bubble tea, Max?" Angel asked, pulling at my sleeve.

"Sure, sweetie. How much is it?"

"Twenty-five dollars."

"Get me one too, okay?" I counted out fifty NTD and handed it to her. She nodded and skipped over to a milk tea stand a little ways away. By the way, dear reader, in case you are wondering why stuff costs so much here, let me explain some simple conversions, brought to you courtesy of Ella. It takes about thirty-one NTD, or new Taiwanese dollars, to equal an American dollar. Seeing as one milk tea — which is, by the way, huge and so freaking amazing tasting you would never believe it — is only twenty-five dollars, I don't even need to be some math genius to know that they are so totally worth it. Seriously. If I weren't a mutant freak who needs at least 6,000 calories, then I could probably survive on these things. Well, that and cookies, of course.

But anyways.

"Ooh, look!" Ella gaped as we walked past stand after stand of vendors selling jewelry and other accessories. "It's so pretty!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, we all love shiny stuff."

"Like, oh my gosh, isn't this just so cute?" Nudge gave a very squeal-ish squeal as she pounced on the sparkly wares of a wide-eyed vendor. He nodded and gestured at the seven of us, smiling and hovering over Nudge as she cooed over one necklace after another. Ella and Angel soon joined her, while Gazzy and Iggy complained that we should go back to the food area. Fang was silent as usual, hanging back in the shadows and eyeing the glittering jewelry warily.

"How does this look on me, Max?" Nudge turned around and struck a pose for me, showing off the small key necklace around her neck. "Or do you think this one is better?" She held up another necklace in with the same design, but in blue. "I totally love this design, don't you? It's just so cute! I remember once I saw one like this back in California or somewhere, but it was like twenty dollars. This one is only one hundred NTD, isn't that so awesome? We should totally—"

"Maaax. I'm boreeed. Why can't we just go back to the food section?" Gazzy eyed the stand with distaste and then look up at me.

"We need to stick together though." I glared at him. "I am not letting you two get away from me this time. I can't believe you did that at dinner! And it was such a nice restaurant too!"

"Aww, come on, Max. As far as they know, all Americans act like this. I think the Taiwanese need to lighten up, anyways."

"You two were having a silverware fight in the middle of the aisle. I'm surprised you didn't climb on top of the table." (A/N: I have actually been part of this scenario before, in almost the exact same circumstances. Man, our guardian was pissed at us.)

"Yeah, did you see the look on Principal Hanley's _face_? Classic."

"You know," Iggy said thoughtfully, "I bet she was wondering how I could have a swordfight with you even though I'm blind."

Gazzy pulled on Iggy's arm until he was able to reach his neck, and then he looped an arm over Iggy's shoulders. "It's 'cuz we have such great teamwork. Isn't teamwork one of Saint Valentine's mottos?"

I looked at them — with Gazzy grinning insanely and Iggy almost bent double and trying to grin at me — and burst out laughing. It was impossible to stay mad at the two of them for long.

"Max, can we get this?" I turned around to find Angel and Nudge looking at me pitifully. "Pleeease?" They held matching heart necklaces and bracelets.

I sighed. "How much is it?"

"Well, I can't really understand what he's saying, but he keeps on gesturing and stuff. Maybe you could find out. They're supposed to be a hundred each, but…" Angel gave a little frown. "It's so annoying that I can't understand what he's thinking."

I wanted to remind her that _most_ people don't have the skill of knowing what anyone is thinking, but I stopped myself.

The vendor looked at me, and then pointed at the sign in front of his wares that had a big "100" written on it. I didn't need to be able to read Chinese to see that it cost a hundred NTD. However, he kept on bouncing around and pointing at us. When we all looked at him with blank expressions, he pointed at Angel and then at his own head, and then he smiled and made an X with his arms.

"I think he's trying to say that Angel doesn't have a brain." Gazzy announced triumphantly.

Angel glared at him. We all looked back at the man, who was beginning to looking frustrated. He looked around wildly, and then, as if getting an idea, he started digging underneath his stand. I gave a sigh of irritation and fell back next to Fang, scanning the area for any danger.

The man got out a sheet of crumpled looking paper and a pen. Then, he very deliberately pointed at Angel, and then Nudge, before writing on his paper another "100". Glancing up to see that we were watching, he crossed out the "100" and instead wrote "80".

"Coolio! I think this means we get a discount!" Nudge clapped her hands together in excitement. "I don't know why he's doing this though. Maybe he thinks we're cute!" She giggled and ducked around Angel, putting her hands on her small shoulders. "He's too old though. Maybe if he were a bit younger, like, eighteen or something? I wonder if men are more mature at eighteen? I've always heard that men mature more slowly than women, so for a good relationship, the man has to be at least four years older. I wonder if that's true? If it is, then it would totally be cool—"

"Right. Nudge, why don't we pursue this another time?" I dug out a five-hundred dollar bill, and then paused. A thought had just occurred to me, and I glanced over at the silent Fang, who was currently doing his best to blend into the shadows. I paused, and then turned back to the girls. "You know, Nudge, Angel, that's a lot of money you two are trying to spend on jewelry."

Nudge's face fell. "But Ella's bought a green heart necklace and bracelet, and me and Angel are gonna get purple and pink! And anyways, it would be, like, totally unfair to Ella, because she won't have any one to match with! We were planning to get matching outfits today!"

I rolled my eyes. "I think you mean Angel and I. Regardless, I never said that you can't get that stuff. I just think if you two are going to spend so much on it, I should have my own condition you must fulfill."

Angel looked at me with innocent eyes. Then they widened a little. I guess she must have read my mind. _What do you say, Angel?_

"That'll be kinda hard…" she mused.

"What will?" Gazzy asked, looking between her thoughtful face and my mischievous one. "What are you gonna do?"

"Where's Fang?" I asked, looking around. "Please don't tell me he's…"

"I'm right here." Fang magically appeared out of the shadows, as if he was there the whole time. Which is probably not far from the truth.

"Faaang…?" Angel smiled up at him. "Will you pretty please do something for me? Preeety please?"

Fang looked from Angel's beaming face, to the confused looks coming from the flock, and finally to me. I was barely suppressing the giggles that were threatening to consume me.

"Oh, _crap_."

A/N: Remember to give me ideas to write about, since I've just lost a lot of content. Thankies, one and all!


	10. Luffles Hot Springs

A/N: It's been, what, a century since I last updated? But the reason for that is because I was really sick, and I was totally holed up in bed for a good part of the week. *honks into hankie* 'Scuse me.

I'm starting to run out of ideas because of the whole unspecified setting dilemma, so I will probably be wrapping up this fanfic in the next few chappies. (For example, notice to conspicuous lack of plot line in Old Street.) Unless y'alls want some more fluff? *laughs* But anyways, I've really enjoyed this experience and I thank everyone for reading it!

*Edit: Ohmigoddess. I am so sorry (again) to Explodium. Gahh, forgive me!! I feel really stupid now. Forgive me, forgive me!! Please! Thank you for telling me, lolpartygal2009!

To My Underworld Nightmare: It's the prime of the debate season right now, and I'm also rather busy working on my own fanfic. However, I will be sure to read your story as soon as I have the time!

To ZanaLuvs2Read: Yay! You don't know how happy your comment makes me, because I actually don't go to a private school. I just do a lot of research because I like to make things realistic-ish (although I really hate research). If it seems like I know a lot about it, then that means I'm doing _something_ right!

To jaz719, Who are you I am me., AlabasterThreads, the7thflockmember, curlscat, ObSeSsEd-717, and darkwarrioroflight: Sorry for the cliffie, y'alls, but I haven't been giving any really big cliffies in my fic, so I thought it was about time to let everyone sweat it out a little. (That and the fact that I didn't really know what was going to happen next myself.)

To ShyNotScared13, LiveLaughLuv311, and Starry-Scarlett: Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you! However, I'm not sure I would be able to pull off a chapter with Fangy-poo wearing a mini-skirt or anything pink. I just hope that my own less drastic alternative works for you peoples.

To kathyklt, SmartA55, airtrafficstreams, and nolechic512: Thanks for reviewing! Luffles forevers~

Disclaimer: If you don't know by now, you're an idiot.

**Chapter Ten —**

"Max, I _hate_ you."

"Aww, come on now. It's not that bad."

Fang only glared at me. "How could you?"

"You're exaggerating. It couldn't seriously have been that bad. And anyways, it's just for today."

"Bad enough."

"I think it looks good on you actually. Very Asian."

"Do I look Asian to you?"

I grinned. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy yourself even a little bit. I mean, it's not like we purposely bought stuff that looks bad. In fact, considering what we could have bought, I think you got off really easy."

"Hello? It's _white_."

"Cheer up, Mr. Sunshine. Black gets boring if you wear it all the time."

"I look like some freak from an Asian band."

"It's cute! Didn't you see all the Asian girls looking at you last night?" I glanced over at Fang, who was brooding on the seat next to me.

Yesterday night, at the night market, I had promised to buy Angel and Nudge their matching outfits under one condition. If, and only if, they could convince Fang to let us buy an outfit for him to wear today. I don't know how they did it, but Fang came back looking pale (or rather, paler than he usually was) and told us he would do it if we did not get him anything too outlandish. After much fighting and glaring on his part, and much giggling and teasing on ours, we finally managed to come to a mutual agreement.

Now, we were sitting on a sofa in the lobby, waiting for the day's activities to start, while Fang complained to me about my horribleness.

He had on a light gray sweater with a low neckline, as well as white pants that were slim-ish and came with a long thin belt. We had allowed him to keep his black shoes, but then we made him wear a leather strap around his neck that looked sort of like a collar. It was Ella's idea, because she had seen one of the shopkeepers wearing one and she thought it would look good with the outfit we had gotten. It did, but Fang complained that it made him feel like a dog. (A/N: If I ever have time, I will probably draw a picture of Fang's outfit and post it to my deviant! Check it out!)

"No, actually, I didn't." Fang rolled his eyes. "I think I tuned out after that girl with the huge eyes who looked like she had a twitch in her eyelid tried to get me to buy a sundress."

"Yeah, that _was_ pretty creepy."

"What are we doing today, by the way?" Fang plucked at a thread dangling from the sleeve of his sweater. "I hope it's somewhere with air conditioning. I can't believe you made me wear a sweater."

"Are you saying it's too hot for you, Mr. I-Don't-Sweat? Or is this just another excuse to complain about my clothing choices?"

Fang glared at me. "You're one to talk." I grinned; I was getting used to the whole wings bound up thing, and it was actually quite nice to be able to wear a t-shirt out in the open. Last night at the night market, I had bought a t-shirt with the same design as Angel, Nudge, and Ella, and today we were all wearing the same one. Gazzy said it was creepy, while Fang was too worried about his own appearance to care.

Angel skipped up to me and plopped herself down in my lap. "Max, I heard our teacher thinking that we might go to a night market again sometime during this trip. I hope we do. It was really fun!" She glanced over at the sulking Fang and giggled.

"Ange, what are we doing today?" I fiddled with a piece of her hair, almost dry already, even though she had just taken a shower a not more than fifteen minutes ago.

"Isabelle said that we're not going to do much today, because they want us to have a day to relax and overcome the time difference. Yesterday was busy because they wanted to tire us out so that we adjust to the time lag better." Angel gave a small yawn. "I think we can probably go back to bed if we want to, after Principal Hanley gives us the announcements for today."

Frankly, I was disappointed. I had been hoping that we were going somewhere cool because of all the trouble I had gone though to get Fang to wear something other than his usual ninja uniform.

"Oh, here comes Principal Hanley!"

I looked up as the room's noise level dropped significantly at the arrival of our beloved principal. Walking into the lobby, she glanced around and walked over to one of the teachers at the door. They talked for a while, and then she turned back and strode purposefully to the center of the room.

"Good morning students. I trust you all have had a restful night." She looked around, as if daring us to disagree with her. None of us took the dare. "Today is going to be a day of rest," she continued, "we are spending the morning in the hotel, and then in the afternoon, when everyone should be sufficiently rested, we will be going to one of the Old Streets near here. You will be free to wander there, as long as you are in groups consisting of at least five people each."

Sweet.

"Now, before I go further into what we will be doing this afternoon, I'd like to once again reiterate…"

I conked out again, not really paying attention to whatever she was talking about. Glancing out of the corner of my eye at Fang, I saw him playing with a string on his jacket and sighing in distaste. I found myself wishing that Fang would wear brighter clothes more often… and then I shook myself, wondering why I had even started thinking about Fang _again_. We were just friends, weren't we? Granted, he was probably my best friend in the whole world and one of my flock, but that didn't mean that there was anything romantic going on between us. There were plenty of people who were friends and never developed a relationship, wasn't there?

"…and with that, you are dismissed."

Oops. Looks like I missed the announcement again. Rolling my shoulders back tiredly, I turned and headed back to the hotel room to get some rest before lunch.

-----

"Uwahhh." With a sigh of relaxation, I sank back into the water and allowed myself to completely unwind. It had been a long day, what with all the shopping and racket from the flock, and even more awkwardness between me and Fang.

We had been playing some mini-games in an arcade, and I had already tried four times for a plushie (A/N: Is that a real word, or have I been playing Neopets too much recently?) that Angel wanted — apparently, it looked like a miniature Celeste — when Fang decided to try his hand at it. He succeeded on his second try, and the whole flock had cheered. I had tried to high-five him, but after our hands met in the air, he had laced his fingers in mine, and our hands fell, interlaced.

Well, that caused some raised eyebrows from the flock and some major embarrassment on my part, so I had quickly withdrawn my hand and become fascinated with a photo booth on the other side of the room. We decided to squish in the booth and take some pictures, but somehow Fang managed to wriggle beside me in almost every picture. The feeling of his body next to mine was not necessarily uncomfortable as much as alarming, and I quickly decided not to suggest any more activities where we might need physical contact. I had been avoiding him all day, and it was quite tiring.

I wasn't able to fall asleep, and at almost eleven, I got up, even though everyone was supposed to be in their rooms. I was feeling restless, and decided to go out for a flight. Carefully making sure not to wake any of the girls as I crept out of the room, I snuck outside and into the fresh air. The night was still incredibly alive, and it helped settle me a little. Sneaking into a dark alleyway, I took off for a nice flight to think things over.

An hour later, I landed, without much straightened out, but definitely feeling a lot more refreshed. I was also feeling very sweaty, as the night was practically as hot as the day. Creeping back into the lobby, where the lady at the front desk was dozing with her hands on her chin, I looked around. I didn't feel like going back upstairs, so I went off in the hallway in the other direction

As it turned out, this hallway led to the recreation facilities, which branched out into a large arena for parties and such, as well as an open area with a TV and a lot of chairs. To my left, there was a door with a sheet over it, and upon going through it, I found a medium sized room with two ping-pong courts and another two doors to my right. Going though one, I discovered paradise.

Rather, I discovered an empty natural hot springs.

I had heard something about hot springs here, but I had never known that there were hot springs actually in our hotel. Peeking out into the room behind me, I saw that it was completely deserted. Well, being all sweaty after a rejuvenating flight and definitely in need of a nice relaxing soak, this seemed to be like the perfect thing to help me relax.

Glancing around some more, I deemed it safe for me to stay there a while — it was after midnight, after all, and this entire hotel was now occupied by people from our school — and glanced around. Walking back out the door, I noticed that I had walked through the men's side of the springs.

With a small blush at the thought of the possibility of someone occupying the space that I had so carelessly walked though, I quickly back-pedaled and walked though the other door in the ping-pong room. With a sigh of gratitude, I walked up to the opaque white water and swirled my finger in it. It was a comfortably warm temperature, and I smiled happily. I would totally show the flock this tomorrow. As for today…

I decided that I would soak in the hot springs every day from now on. This was so relaxing. Lying my head back on one of the fluffy white towels the hotel had thoughtfully provided, I hummed a song tunelessly. It was a good time to be alive.

I had only been soaking for ten minutes or so when my sharp ears picked up a sound from outside. Sharply, my breath caught in my throat. Quietly as I could, I stood up and clutched my towel over my suddenly shivering body. I knew I should have come into the water with my clothes on!

I had just about made it to shore safely when I stumbled on one of the natural crags in the water. Because the water was white, I was unable to see where I was stepping, and I tripped. With a splash, I fell forward into the water and scrambled to resurface. Holding my breath, I hoped that I had not been discovered.

Too late.

The curtain in front of me rose.


	11. Falling

A/N: Doom-da-doom. It's time for the all-mighty climax.

This chappie took me _forevah_ to write, so I hope y'alls appreciates all the extra time I've put into this. Man, it's hard to create action when your main character is millions of times stronger than any average human.

Does anyone find Max OOC in this one? I was trying to decide what to do with her, but in the end I choose what I did because I assumed that she would act like a girl before acting like a fighter in this situation. Tell me what you think.

Been getting a lot of comments lately, and since I'm too lazy to respond to all of them, I will just be giving a blanket commendation here… THANK YOU!! Okies, here we go.

Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I still wasn't James Patterson.

**Chapter Eleven —**

I stared in horror as a person I didn't know walked through the door, past the clinging cloth that was draped over it. (A/N: HAHA!! And you thought it was gonna be Fang, didn't you!??)

A stranger.

A guy.

He was at least thirty, and was obviously out of place in the hotel, which was meant for people from our school alone. His clothes were scruffy and worn, and there was a fierce air about him I immediately distrusted.

His eyes, which had been roaming over the springs suddenly found me, small and huddled behind a rough rock formation. His mouth curved into a smile. A gross smile.

My first reaction was to beat the _sh_ out of him, firstly for walking in on me — what the hell was he doing coming in the girl's door, anyways? — and secondly to insure that he did not discover the rather obvious _wings_ hanging off my back.

My second reaction was to scream my head off because a stranger-dude had just walked in on me while I was naked but for a towel.

I screamed.

What can I say; my feminine side got the better of me.

My heart was starting to pulse into overdrive as the adrenaline shot through my system. I couldn't think. I wanted to act! I wanted my body to follow its natural fight patterns and beat the crap out of this creepy perverted dude.

But I couldn't without getting my clothes first.

The man uttered a single barking call, and my head shot up. There was a shuffling, and suddenly, four other men came in after the first, all looking dirty and disgusting. My heart pounded. I could go after them now, and kill them all, but what would that leave me with? I would still need to take care of the bodies, especially since I couldn't exactly ditch the hotel. The best way would be to grab my clothes and make a run for it, but there wouldn't be enough time for me to put my clothes on before I got into a public area, especially if I ran.

I wished someone would come, but I had wandered far into the depths of the building, and there would likely be no one around who would hear if there was a fight, especially if no one had heard my scream. However, if someone did come, my wings might be discovered, and that would lead to even bigger problems.

I was in a sticky situation — not impossible to get out of, mind you, but difficult, if I wanted to get out of it with my female pride intact.

Then, Gross Smile took out a gun.

Oh, shit.

My left shoulder throbbed at the phantom memory of the gun shot it had taken a lifetime ago — it was an experience I did not care to replicate anytime soon.

The situation had just gotten a whole lot stickier.

Hurriedly wrapping the towel around myself and covering my wings as best I could, I spun and hid behind the rocks I had been peeking out of. I heard a chuckle behind me, and then a metallic click as the safety latch on the gun came off.

There was a quiet splash, and then another.

And then there was silence.

My heart was pounding into overdrive as I wondered as to my next step of action. Looking to and fro, I saw nothing around me. Where were they!?

Quietly as I could, I started walking to my left, where the rocks made another corner that I could hide in. My elbow made a splash as I reached down to catch my towel, which had been making small dripping noises. Holding my breath, I froze again.

Silence.

Tentatively, I started walking again, my heart pounding. I was sure that it was giving me away, what with the volume of its beats.

Then suddenly, my foot landed in a slimy patch of something or other, and I felt my balance go awry. My foot slipped out from under me.

Falling.

My head hit the water with a thwack, and I barely had time to take in a breath before I was beneath the opaque ruffles of water. Automatically, my wings spread, as if I had fallen on land instead of water. My towel was ripped from my body as my wings tore it off. I felt a sudden throb of pain as my left wingtip came in contact with the hard rock formation which I had been hugging close to my left. I was about to let out a cry of pain, but I stifled it because I remembered in the back of my mind that I needed to keep quiet. Instead, I inhaled sharply to keep from screaming.

Wrong thing to do.

I was still underwater, and all that came through my mouth and nose was water. Warm water that tasted like rice and chlorine gushed down my throat and into my lungs, and suddenly I couldn't breath. I tried to cough, but it felt like there was a pressure on me, and it wasn't letting me go. Feebly, my hand reached up to grab the scrap of towel that had lodged itself on my face; I put my last efforts into unsecuring it.

I got the scrap off my face just as I managed to get my nose above the water. I started coughing like crazy, and I didn't care about the noise I was making anymore. All… I wanted… was… air. Sweet… clean…

Air.

-----

"Max? Max! Max, answer me! Max!?"

A wet plop hit my face from above. "Urrghhh…" I moaned, squeezing my eyebrows together. _Just five more minutes_.

"Max, you need to get out of the water."

Water? What water?

There was a small splash as I gave a weak shake of my head.

Oh. That water.

My eyes gave a small flutter, and then they were open and attempting to focus on the dark shape above me.

"Wha… F-Fang?" My tongue felt huge in my mouth, causing me to stumble on my words.

"Max!" His voice sounded relieved. "Thank God you're alright! Oh Max…"

"Wha-what happened?"

Fang took a deep breath. "I woke up and couldn't fall asleep again. I was about to sneak out for a flight when I heard a really faint scream coming from this direction… when I came down to investigate, I found a bunch of punks inside the girls' springs. They were… uh, well, I came down on them and they all ran away as soon as I broke the arm of one of them and took the gun off the other." He looked away from me, his hair dripping water. "They're cowards when they're up against someone their own size."

I stared at the back of his head in shock. If it weren't for Fang…

"Fang… I—"

He shook his head. "No, stop. You were going to tell me that you could have handled it yourself, right?" He spun back around, his eyes on my face. "Max, I—"

"I was not about to say that!" I protested, standing up out of the water.

Fang seemed to gain a sudden difficulty inhaling, and he abruptly turned around.

I blinked twice before I realized what was wrong with this picture.

I was _still naked_.

"Ohmiholy (really, really bad word here)—" I screamed again and plunged myself back into the water, my face burning. Fang was gentleman enough to keep his back turned as I simmered in the water.

By the time I had regained my voice, I had a burning fury to go along with it, built up from the anger at my own helplessness and an embarrassment that Fang had been there to witness it. "Fang, why the _hell_ didn't you tell me that I didn't have anything on!? You _freak_! I _hate_ you!"

I whipped around in the water, creating hundreds of small waves as I maneuvered toward the far bank. Unfortunately, the stupid freaking springs now had some sort of maniacal vengeance for me, and as I stomped my foot down harshly, I landed on a sharp rock. With a cry of pain, I fell over forwards, creating yet another huge splash.

And then Fang was there, catching me in his arms, pulling me backward into his embrace. With a sound thump, I landed in his arms before I could take another dunking.

"Fang, _let go of me!! Let go of me right now,_" I screeched, tugging myself from his grip. When his arms refused to loosen, I could feel the energy ebbing from my body. It was too much. The strange awkwardness between us, the gun idiots, the falling, this whole stupid trip that I didn't even want to come on in the first place. Why was this happening? Why did these things always happen to me!?

"I hate this," I mumbled, falling limp against Fang's fierce hold, "hate it, hate it, hate it." He slowly let go of me, and I crumpled into the water. "I thought field trips were supposed to be fun." Tears pricked my eyes, but I shook my head fiercely. There was no way I was going to get all teary-eyed over this.

There was silence behind me, and I tried to pretend that Fang wasn't there. Taking a few deep breaths, I calmed myself a little. It would be alright. Everything would be fine. I wanted to stand up, but with Fang still behind me…

Something fell on my head, and I reached up for it numbly. Fang's shirt. He'd read my mind. I stood up to wrap it around myself, and suddenly had a bout of dizziness. Swaying slightly, I managed to get myself covered before I fell backward into Fang. I guess I had been in the hot water for too long.

Looking up, I saw Fang's face upside-down above me, looking concerned and embarrassed. He seemed almost unsure of whether or not to say something. Should I apologize for telling him I hated him? He probably deserved thanks anyways, for saving me, not that I would tell him that now.

"I'm… sorry, Fang. I don't… actually hate you. It's just been a really hectic day all-around, and I was feeling really stressed — first the bully boys, and then the falling and choking…" I was rambling now, unsure of how to stop myself. "I must have fallen more times this past hour than I ever have in my entire life." My voice trailed off and I chuckled nervously as I found Fang's eyes looking at me intensely.

"I've fallen too," he murmured, his dark eyes following my reaction. "In love. With you."

My heart forgot how to keep beating.

And then it restarted again, as if I had been shocked with paddles. I could only stare up at Fang in a kind of mesmerized horror as he looked down at me solemnly.

He took my shoulders and turned me around, so that we were facing each other instead of facing the same direction. Slowly, with our eyes connected the whole time, his face came down to meet mine. His lips paused inches away from my face, sweetly, almost shyly. His breath was light and slow.

And then my mind caught up to the here and now, upon finally processing what Fang had told me.

My heart seized up. "I— you… it's not—"

Abruptly, I turned and ran from the room, for once not tripping.


	12. In Love With You

A/N: Alright, here we have the grand finale. I hope everyone has had fun following me on my imperial adventure through the bowels of one of my favoritest books of all time, and has enjoyed this experience as much as I have.

A ginormous thanks to all my fans that have followed this story and told me to update (and at times pushed me to the computer and forced me to update). In particular, thank you to all those people who have been with me since the beginning and followed me ever since, like missbellalove, .-, lolpartygal2009, 123-Cat-Cat-321, imsunprincess54, notjustink, SmartA55, and sparkleglitz01. You guys (and gals) rock! Also, thanks to all the awesome people who have provided a lot of moral support for me in their heartfelt comments, such as LiveLaughLuv311, maximumchrisyt, ShyNotScared13, Nikik, Who are you I am me., and curlscat! This story would never have been completed without your support!

If I've missed you on this list, I sincerely apologize, and if you would like to be included, feel free to PM me pointing out your comments (at least three please?).

Last but not least, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! I hope your valentines day meets with the same success as my fanfic characters have! (Uh-oh, is that a spoiler?)

Disclaimer: Do I seriously need this anymore?

**Chapter Twelve —**

I was so out of my depth.

For the rest of the trip, I avoided Fang, and along with him, his profession of love. He did not try to push me for once, and we stayed out of each other's way unless forced to cooperate. The rest of the flock noticed the distance, but they did not say much, knowing that we have had the occasional spat before and that it was better to just leave us to sort it out ourselves. Heaven forbid anyone interfere, especially since they all knew how stubborn the two of us were. Even Gazzy sensed that this quarrel was different from the others, and they all left us to be.

I almost wished that someone would step in and help me sort it out, and maybe even give voice to the feelings that I had and couldn't quite understand. I often caught myself looking at Fang, seeing things that I never noticed before, such as the bump in the back of his neck and the way his hair looked like little feathers in the sunlight. More often than not, our eyes would meet briefly before I looked away. He never said anything about it. It was an awkward sort of compromise, almost as if he too was embarrassed to have finally confessed his feeling for me.

I, for one, was confused out of my ever-lovin' mind. I didn't understand my feelings for Fang; in fact, I had always assumed that I _had_ none out of the ordinary towards him. He had always been the one making the advances, and I had always been the one keeping him in line. It was a joke. We were both joking. We were friends, after all. Didn't all friends do that?

All the memories that involved me and Fang that I had chained up and gagged somewhere in the back of my head were roaring to get free. Now, whenever I had a spare moment, I had to fight the force of the locked drawer that was fit to bursting. Everyday, I had to wrap a new layer of duct-tape over the closed drawer, to prevent it from popping open. Everyday, it seemed to get stronger.

Someday, I would not be able to prevent its opening.

But that day was not now, and I tried my best to live with the drawer occasionally rattling in the back of my head, a constant reminder that it was not to be forgotten. Somehow, I made it through the rest of the week in one piece, and by the end, I had almost forced myself to forget the whole incident. I was even considering talking to Fang again when I realized that our vacation in Taiwan was almost over.

The trip was supposed to last for two weeks, during which we experienced the culmination of Taiwanese hospitality. Everywhere we went, we experienced the best there was to give, from Taipei 101 to the Wulai Aboriginal Village to the Taroko Gorge. I played and laughed with the flock and Ella, but I couldn't seem to put my whole self into it. What the heck was wrong with me!?

It seemed like almost no time passed before our trip was over.

"Ohmigosh, that was _so_ fun, wasn't it Max!? I'm so glad that we came on this trip, aren't you? I mean, nothing bad happened, did it? Don't we have a field trip every year? Next year I want to go to someplace _really_ cool, like Iceland or Greenland. Haven't you always wanted to say something like, 'I've been to Iceland before'?" Nudge looked up at me. "Um, Max?"

"Right." I gave her an absentminded nod while packing up my suitcase. "Definitely."

She stared at me. "Max, are you okay?"

I blinked a few times and looked at her. "Of course I'm okay. What are you talking about, Nudge?"

"Well," she began, as if not knowing what to say, "it seems like there's been something going on with you and Fang, like, this entire trip." She shuffled her feet on the ground. "What happened, Max?"

I laughed, perhaps a little bit too hard. "Nothing's going on. Whatever do you mean?"

She looked at me pointedly and frowned. "We've all noticed it. Don't try to deny it, because it's painfully obvious." She paused. "Do you like him?"

I inhaled sharply. "Look, Nudge…"

Nudge looked away. "Okay, Max, I get it. You don't have to talk about it anymore. I shouldn't have brought it up." She quickly stuffed the rest of her clothes into her suitcase and seemed completely absorbed in shutting it.

"Nudge, it's not—"

"Hey, Max, why don't you help me shut my suitcase? I can't get it to close completely because I bought so much new stuff." Nudge looked up at me again and her face was suspiciously blank.

"Here, I have some space in my suitcase. You can put it in here." Together, we transferred a handful of her clothes to my suitcase, and then I helped her get her bag closed. "Okay then… I guess it's time to go."

-----

"No, Angel. I am not going to sit there. I need to watch over you girls, and Fang needs to watch over Gazzy and Iggy. That is final."

"But why can't we just sit like how we did last time? I think that was fun!" Angel looked up at me piteously.

We had already bypassed the customs, and now we were standing in the ticket checking line, waiting to board. We were discussing the tickets that we had gotten and doing a last minute seating trade. I was just my luck that our airplane tickets turned out almost exactly like they had last time; rather, we got two sets of two seats together and one set of three. Everyone was perfectly fine with sitting like how we did on the trip to Taiwan… everyone except me, of course. Fang, as usual, didn't say anything.

Even Ella had gone over to the dark side. "Max, everyone else is fine with how we were sitting last time. Why don't we—"

"_No_! I'm not comfortable with that arrangement. I need to be sure that everyone is safe." I was using the same excuse over and over again now, because there was no way I was going to give the real reason that I wouldn't sit next to Fang.

There was silence. "Max…" Angel looked at me, her expression suddenly serious. _Why don't you want to sit next to Fang?_

I glared at her. _Angel, get out of my head._

She looked at me sadly, then looked down at the ground and said nothing.

That did it. I felt horrible for snapping at my little Angel, and the look of sadness in her eyes made me feel like I had stabbed her with a knife instead of with words.

"Oh for heaven's sake — _fine_. We'll freaking sit like how we did on the ride here. _Happy now_?" Without waiting for their reaction, I spun around and slapped my ticket down on the counter, right into the surprised ticket-lady's face. Behind me, I heard a shuffling as the rest of the flock traded tickets. Determined not to turn around, I grabbed my ticket stub and walked down the boardway and into the plane.

"B9…B9…" I muttered quietly as I walked down the narrow aisle. "Here it is."

Heaving my suitcase with just a little more force than necessary, I dumped it in the overhead compartment and settled into my window seat. A few moments later, Fang silently slid into the seat next to me. Gahh. It was going to be a long flight.

I turned my face away from him and purposely looked out the small circular window. Looking at the cement runway outside, I sighed sadly at having not enjoyed this field trip more. It would have been really fun actually, had it not been for that unfortunate… incident.

Blinking tiredly, I settled down to sleep the ride away.

-----

I jumped when his head touched my shoulder, and then calmed myself, resisting the urge to push him off. Why couldn't he have fallen the other way? Looking past Fang, I saw an old lady dozing on his other side. That would have gone well.

But he was asleep, wasn't he? I forced myself to calm down. It was okay. I could allow him to rest against me, couldn't I?

Ignoring the weight on my shoulder, I leaned back again. Stupid Fang. Always messing with my feelings. Wait, what was I thinking? I didn't have any feelings for Fang. My friend. Just my friend. Only a friend.

I had just shaken off the confusion and was just starting to snooze once more when the airplane hit a spot of turbulence. The slight jolt bumped me to the right, and Fang's head fell from the spot on my shoulder. He fell against me like a dead weight, but, miraculously, didn't wake up.

I was wide awake now; the nearness of his sleeping body the only thing I could feel. The memory of his confession and my subsequent denial wriggled inside the mental drawer I had shut it in, and with a violent shudder, I banged it shut again. No. It wasn't true. He meant he loved me like a sibling. Like family. He was my best friend, not…

With a spasmodic burst of emotion, the thought burst out of the drawer I had so meticulously locked it in, pushing itself through the layers I had wrapped it in. Bursting out of the ties I had bound it in.

Fang loved me. He loved me as a person, as a girl. He loved me as Max.

As I loved him.

The epiphany hit me like an earthquake, and I was momentarily stunned by the raw force of the emotion. And then, looking down at the dark figure leaning against me with new eyes, I knew it to be true. It was true, completely and utterly and amazingly true. I was in love, as my heart had known for so long now, although my mind had refused to believe it. This internal struggle between heart and mind had torn me apart, making me forget the most important thing in my life.

My friends. My flock. My…

Fang.

And I finally realized my heart had been right all along.

In the darkness, sitting in window seat B9 on Airwan Airlines, I leaned down and placed the softest of kisses on the mouth of the boy sitting in seat B10, the boy who I could finally acknowledge as the love of my life.

Fang opened his eyes.

"I knew you would see it my way."

And then, wrapping his arms securely around me, he pulled me closer to him and kissed me back.

-----

"_I love you, Fang._"

A/N: And that's the end. I've written so much I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. Reply with what you think, okay? *falls over*


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